Toy.



E. A. LAHIERB.

, TOY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1914.

1 ,108,91 3. Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1 i/i [la/L ora THE NORRIS PETERS CO PHDTO-LITHOM WASHINGTON. D. C,

E. A. LAHIERE.

TOY.

APPLIMW'HLED Patented, Sept. 1, 19141 2 SHEET$-SHEET 2- li/lZaizwre' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE A. LAT-HERE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

TOY.

Application filed January 27, 1914. SeriaLNo. 814,621.

To all whom it may concern: v I

Be it known that I, EUGENE|'A. Li r nnn, citizen of France, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in- Toys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in toys, particularly to toys of the type employing an endless circular track, together with a train of cars movable upon the'track, and means for moving the cars, one object of my invention being .the provision of means for manually moving the cars in such a manner that they may be moved ahead or back as preferred, or stopped at any desired point along the track. v

More specifically, the object of my invention is the provision of a toy embodying asuppo'rt, board or table, upon which the track and carsare mounted, the upper face of'the board beingornamented, preferably in such a way as'to provide a scenic effect both about and within the track.

One object of my present invention is the construction of means for manually oper'ating the cars so arranged that all operatlng mechanism, save the hand crank by means of which such mechanism is driven, will be hidden from view, and furtherin such a manner that the, cars may be made to un-' interruptedlypass through. tunnels or other obstructions.

A still further object of my invention is to so construct the board constituting the support or table of the toy that it may be readily folded for storage or shipment. In

this connection,-"the train operating means so constructed that it mayv be readily taken apart and removed fromtheboard to permit folding of the boardand more convenient packing of the toy as a whole.

With these and other objects inview, my invention will be more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form apart of this application.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective view'of my improved toy ready for operation; Fig. 2 is a sectional. view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the superstructure constituting the scenic effect of the toy, being removed to permit a clearer showing, of the mechanical structure itself; Fig. 3 is a Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

side elevation, partially section, 'of the board or platform of the toy in folded po sition; Fig. 4cis aperspectiveviewof the underside of the board in openposition; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the operating mechanism for moving the train about the circular track, said mechanism being shown disconnected from theremainder of the toy.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to-in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The board or platform of the toy proper is indicated as a whole by the numeral 10 and the preferred form of my invention includes two symmetrically formed body portions 11 and 12 each rectangular in shape and so proportioned that when their more The edges of'the portions 11 and i The body portions 11 and 12 are provided 1 adjacent their free "edges with supporting strips or braces 15 which, when the board is in use, serve to space thesame somewhat above the table or other support upon whichvit may be placed and which, when the board. 1 is folded, engage one upon the other as shown'in Fig. 3. Theihinges 13 as shown, are so constructed that when the board is extended, the hinged edgesofthe board sec tions 11 and12will abut evenly against each other while, when the board is folded tohalfthe thicknessof the braces 16 and therefore a space is provided between the braces and board when the board is in extended position. These cross braces are secured to the braces 16 by means of hinges 21 and when theboard is in extended position are fastened at their free ends by spring catches, indicated as a whole by the numeral 22 in such a manner as to prevent accidental folding of the board. These catches each include a resilient hook member 23 secured to the board section 12 and spring tongue 24 secured to the adjacent cross brace.

The board or platform is provided centrally with a circular opening 25, this opening being formed by cutting away a portion of the abutting edges of the board sections 11 and 12 and the cross brace 19, which is located'beneath this opening, is provided with a relatively smallopening .26. In likev manner, the cross brace 20 is provided with a small opening or bore 2? in alinement with an opening formed in the abutting edges of theoboard sections 11 and 12.

, The openings 25 and 27 of thecross braces are provided with metallic bushings 28, the lower ends of which are flared somewhat as shown,and shafts 29 and 30 pass upwardly through these bushings and through the openings .in the board proper, these shafts having their lower ends enlarged to limit their upward movement. Loosely mounted upon the shaft 29 is a pulley wheel 31 in cluding a hub portion 32, spokes 33 and a peripherally grooved rim 34, the hub, adjacentone end, being formed with a squared socket 35 in alinement with one of the spokes and such spoke being provided with a sleeve 36 and set bolt 87. A spacer sleeve 38 surrounds the shaftimmediately above the pulley 31 and bearing upon the upper end of the spacer sleeve is a disk 39, this disk being secured againstdisplacement by a washer 40and nut 4lthreaded upon the upper end of the shaft 29.

A pulley wheel 42, having a grooved peripheral face, is secured upon the shaft 30 by a key 43 or other suitable means, this pulley being located between the cross brace 20 and theboard 10 and the upepr end of the shaft 30, which extends above the board 10, is provided with a hand crank 44 secured to the shaft by a set bolt 45 or other suitable fastening means. A crossed belt 46, preferably in the form of a cable, is trained about the pulleys 31 and 42, whereby rotation of the pulley 42 by the hand crank 44 will cause rotation of the pulley 31. The pulley 31 being freely mounted upon the shaft 29 will not, however, rotate such shaft and its disk '89. The disk 39 is proportioned to cover the larger part of the upper surface of the board or support o-f-the toy and secured to the board in any suitable mannerand surrounding this disk is an endless, preferably, but not'necessarily, circular track 46' adapted to receive a train of toy cars 47 including a toy locomotive 48. The rails of this track are, of course, broken at the hinged joint ofthe board between the sections 11 and 12 in orderitopermit proper folding ofthe. board, as previously explained.

The cowcatcher 50 of the-locomotive 48 is provided in its top with an opening 51 and in one side with an opening A connecting member 53 has one end offset upwardly as at54 and curved to form a terminal eye 55 proportioned to pass through the opening 52 and to receive a locking pin 56, the stem of which passes through the opening 51 andv the head of which seats upon the top of the cowcatcher. -The body portion of this member extends radially beneath the disk 89 and has its inner end offset upwardly as at 57 and squared to pass through the sleeve 36 and into the hub socket 35, being secured in place by the set bolt 37.

It will of course be apparent that turning of thehand crank will act through the pulleys 42 and 31 tooswing the member 53 and so move the locomotiveand attached cars, the direction of movement of the train and its speed bemg dependent upon the direction and speed with which the hand crank is turned.

In order tolend increased interest to the toy, the upper surface of the board is preferably decorated in any suitable manner,

some such scenic effect as that shown being 9 preferred. The manner, of carrying out this decoration does notin any way constitute part of my invention and but little description of such decoration is therefore neces-.

be made of any suitable material and fixed 7 to sheets of cardboard or other material which are either permanently or detachably mounted upon the board. The latter is the form of construction illustrated in Fig. 1, the decoratlons being formed in three ;sec-' tions, a circular section '58 being provided for the disk 89 and two semi-annular sections 59 being provided to surround the circular track 46. In any case, one of the outer sections 59 should be provided with an arched portion 60, the free innerhend of Fromthe foregoing description, the 0011-. I

struction and operation of my improved toy will be readily understood and no further description is necessary. It will be understood, however, that I do not wish to limit myself to the specific details of construction, v

illustrated in the drawings and set forth in the specification, as various minor changes,

.' within the scope of the appended claims may. be made at any time without in the 64. With such a construction, the member 53 may be adjusted to proper length for a circular track and then clamped in adjusted position. On the other hand, if the track isnon-circular, the set bolt maybe removed and the train still moved about the track by the member 53, the rod 62 sliding back and forth inthe tubular member 63 to compensate for irregularities in the track curvature.

Having thus described'the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A toy including a board or platform, a track on the platform, a pulley mounted adjacent the track and beneath the platform, means for rotating the pulley, a member extending from the pulley, a wheeledfigure movable on the track and provided with openings, one of which is adapted to receive the free end of the member, and a coupling pin insertible through the other opening to detachably secure such memben 2. A toy including a board or platform,-a track on the platform, a pulley mounted adjacent the track and beneath the platform, means for rotating the pulley, a member extending from the pulley and provided at its outer end with an eye, a locomotive movable on the track and includinga cowcatcher having openings in its inner and top walls, the former being adapted to receive the outer end of the member, and a coupling, pin

adapted to be inserted through the opening in the upper wall of the cowcatcher.

p 3. A toy including a board or platform provided with an opening, a disk mounted in spaced relation above the platform, and

covering the opening, a track located about the disk and on the platform, a wheeled figure movable onthe track, a pulley located beneath the platform and disk and a member connected atone end to the pulley and extending through the opening of the platform and beneath the disk, said member being adapted at its oppositeend for connection with the wheeled figure. 1

4. A toy including sections hingedly connected to form a board or platform, braces extending along the lower faces of the sections adjacent their hinged edges,-transverse braces 'hingedly connected at their ends to one of the first braces and adapted for detachable connection with the other of the first mentioned, braces when theboard. is extended to lock the board in extended position, bearings formed in the transverse braces, shafts journaled in thebearings, a pulley freely mounted on one shaft, a pulley detachabl secured to the Oth6I';-Slfl&ift, a belt trained a out the pulleys, means for rotating that shaft having the fixed pulley, a

tracli carried by the upper face of'the platform, a wheeled figure adapted for movement along the track, and operative connectionbetween the loose pulley and figure.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses:

J. D. YOAKLEY, SAMUEL N. AoKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patent Washington, D. 0. r f I I 

